I chose the Titans as they seem to be up s creek. Any other team would do. As for why would Titans fans watch a foreign team - doesnt stop an awful lot of Premier League fans doing similar - plus I guess ticket revenue would come behind tv revenue anyway. Plus over 1M of the population of Australia was born in the UK, with plenty more with British parents - maybe a few thousand of them would turn up to offset any pommyhaters who decided to stop going.

edit - another idea would be to buy a stake in a nrl club but not take it over outright. Say, buy Crowe's stake in South Sydney - you wouldnt have a full English side (and wouldnt lose any home fans), it'd be a watered down version of 'Plan A' but would still work towards the same aims of improving the international side and keeping hold of better players.

This guy won't come cheap and whilst he is undoubtedly a good player (when fit) I'd still rather see SL clubs put more investment into junior development rather than leading the charge to get rid of the 15's and 20's.

"Rugby League is rugby in the simplest form in the sense that it's about great defence, great tackling technique, good handling, good passing, catching and great kicking."

This guy won't come cheap and whilst he is undoubtedly a good player (when fit) I'd still rather see SL clubs put more investment into junior development rather than leading the charge to get rid of the 15's and 20's.

Quote from the Yorkshire Evening Post.There is speculation that Parramatta Eels may be willing to release Tonga, but Hetherington said: “his name has cropped up, but we will not be pursuing him.”

Having seen debts blow out to $24 million under the leadership of former Titans chief executive officer Michael Searle, who will continue as executive director of football, the ARLC have agreed to hand the club a fresh start by issuing a licence under new ownership.

earlier in the last season it was reported to be as much as $35million

If I have understood correctly, he's looking for a centre to replace Ablett but says Ablett has been playing brilliantly in the centres and it would require a top drawer NRL player to replace Ablett. In other words, recruiting a centre isn't really a priority so this is a non-story?

Other than getting in cover for Ablett should he get injured, can't he just keep Ablett in the centre and maybe look for another prop or second rower, positions I understand Leeds to be in greater need of covering?

If it's really that bad, and they need to spend more, surely he needs to get Gary H a longer pair of arms that reach all that loose coin in the bottom of his pockets. I'm sure there's plenty in there to spend.

Anyhow, Darren Lockyer seems to think it a good thing the journeymen are no longer coming over from the NRL as he thinks there is plenty of talent coming thru over here, it just needs game time at the top level.

earlier in the last season it was reported to be as much as $35million

The Titans sold the biggest debt they had in the building "Centre for Excellence" and the Bank financing that took a big hit.They have had a new consortium but a shareholding in the Club and absorb some of the previous debt.They are still in debt but nothing like $35 million.

The RFL buying a stake in an NRL club isn't as stupid an idea as it sounds if they are serious about the international game going forward. However instead of using an existing club they should take a long term view and partner with one of the new ventures who are pushing for an NRL licence in the future such as Perth.
A brand new franchise wont alienate existing fans by having half the squad made up of British players. Imagine having a 25 man squad with 14 Brits playing in the NRL competition every week with every SL club being allowed to send 1 player from their own squad to play for the franchise for a minimum of 2 years